Characterization of Printed Moisture Sensors in Packaging Surveillance Applications

• Published in: IEEE sensors journal Vol. 9; no. 8; pp. 922 - 928
• Main Authors: Unander, T., Nilsson, H.-E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2009; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Electrical engineering, electronics and photonics; Elektroteknik, elektronik och fotonik; Humidity measurement; Ink; Logistics; Moisture; Moisture content; Moisture content sensor; Moisture measurement; Packages; Packaging; printed sensors; Radio frequency identification; Radiofrequency identification; Relative humidity; relative humidity sensor; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Sensor systems; Sensors; Shape measurement; Surveillance; TECHNOLOGY; TEKNIKVETENSKAP
• ISSN: 1530-437X; 1558-1748; 1558-1748
• DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2009.2024866

This work presents a study on the performance of printed low-cost moisture sensors fabricated using conductive ink on paper substrates. The sensors are intended to add value to the surveillance of packages. Two different kinds of sensors are evaluated and characterized. The two sensors have similar geometrical shapes, but different measuring principles are employed. The first sensor is measuring the moisture content in cellulose-based substrates, while the second is measuring high levels of relative humidity in the surroundings. The sensors have been developed so that they can be integrated into radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for surveillance in logistic chains. A laboratory setup of a RFID tag with sensor capability based on an ordinary passive RFID tag has been shown.